Dressings

With their intrinsic acidity, tomatoes are a good ingredient for salad dressings. Next time you are using tomatoes and are about to discard the juicy inside and its seeds, think about keeping this to use as a partial substitute for vinegar or lemon juice in a dressing.

Makes enough to dress a salad for 4

Prep time: 10 minutes

Proportions for basic dressing

2 tbsp sieved tomato juices

1 Here is a rough guide to preparing a tomato-based dressing: adjust the amounts up and down accordingly, to make the amount you need. First, core and seed a juicy tomato—plum, cherry, and standard globe tomatoes are best for this. Keep the seeds plus any juices, and blend or process until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve if you like.

2 To this mixture, add an equal amount (by volume) of good-quality extra virgin olive oil and a little vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk with a fork, taste, and adjust the flavors to suit you. And there you have it—a simple yet tasty dressing ready to drizzle over your favorite salad.

Variations

Some chopped fresh dill and a little freshly toasted and ground cumin seeds transform this dressing into something delicious for roasted tomato, carrot, and beet salads.

Add some finely sliced fresh basil leaves and freshly puréed garlic (use a mortar and pestle to crush the garlic with a little salt) to the basic dressing, and use balsamic vinegar—perfect for summery tomato salads.

For a piquant dressing with a Spanish touch, add a pinch or so of pimentón (Spanish smoked paprika), and use freshly squeezed orange or lemon juice, or both, instead of vinegar. This is ideal for a red pepper, tomato, and orange salad.

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